Monday, February 28, 2011

FEBRUARY ON THE SUN

As the weather on the sun rapidly becomes cause for concern, millions upon manipulated millions of the human race retreat into a fundamental, anti-science, superstitious ignorance in the name of some nebulous deity. At the same time, though, these same tortuous bigots make themselves wholly dependant on advanced technology while denying the entire scientific underpinnings on which their very survival depends. At times it all seems so ludicrous that I can only shake my head and wait for the lights to go out. Pray your way out of that one, sucker.

“Havoc wreaked by a solar storm – such as the one that occurred last week – could be equivalent to a "global hurricane Katrina" that would cost up to $2 trillion dollars in damage to communications satellites, electric power grids and GPS navigation systems, scientists said yesterday. Thursday's solar flare was the biggest for four years and ejected billions of tons of matter travelling at a million miles per hour towards Earth. When it hit our magnetic field it generated magnetic storms and power surges which disrupted communications and grounded flights. Senior government advisers have warned that the world has never been more vulnerable to the effects of such an events, which buffets the complex and delicate electronic technology that now controls almost all aspects of modern society. An increasing reliance on electronic equipment, such as GPS satellite navigation and the computers controlling smart grids for electricity distribution, has meant that solar storms can now produce unprecedented damage on a global scale, they said. Professor Sir John Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, said that the growth in the use of complex electronic machinery over the past 10 years has made society far more susceptible to catastrophic disruption than a decade ago when the last solar activity cycle reached its peak."Space weather has to be taken seriously. We've had a relatively quiet period of space weather and we expect that quiet period to end," Sir John told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.”Click here for more.